Simulcast WEB page delivery using a 3D user interface system

ABSTRACT

A multimedia broadcast system provides program schedule information simulcast as a Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) data stream including commands and displayable, selectable indicia associated with the commands, along with programs for display. A set top box is adapted to separate the HTML data stream and to store that data in a cache as WEB pages retrievable by a WEB browser in the set top box, whereupon the program schedule information is displayed including the displayable, selectable indicia. Selecting the indicia directs the set top box via the associated command to tune to a program associated with the displayable indicia. The indicia may be any text, icon, dynamic figurine, and the like. In a preferred embodiment program schedule WEB pages, including the commands and displayable indicia, are stored especially marked on a WEB server coupled to the Internet and to a scanner adapted to scan the WEB server for marked pages, and to upload the marked pages to a satellite broadcast system.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is in the area of multimedia communications, andpertains more particularly to systems for delivering multimedia contentby both satellite and land-based network connections.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present invention is related to copending patent application08/791,249, and to copending patent application 08/629,475 of which theformer is a Continuation-in-Part, and the disclosures of these priorapplications are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

At the time of filing the present patent application many new systemshave been publicly introduced for delivery of multimedia content, whichis broadly defined in the disclosure as any stored data and informationwhich may be transmitted to end users for their use. Examples are music,video clippings, TV programs of all sorts, and WEB pages from WEBservers interconnected through the world-wide public network well-knownas the Internet.

The term multimedia came into use as a result of a concept and effort tocombine and integrate systems to deliver such information for a broadrange of uses, many of which have a commercial aspect. Many such systemshave been introduced at the time of this filing, and many more are inthe offing. A good example is what is broadly known as a set-top box,which is an electronic unit adapted to be connected to a television set,and to receive and cause to be played (both audio and video presented),typically through the television apparatus. In many instances set-topboxes have a CPU and are connectable to personal computers, and may alsointerface to computer peripheral equipment such as keyboards andprinters, and may respond as well to input devices like infra-red remotecontrollers.

In any case, set-top boxes, cable TV delivery (both analog and digital),satellite TV (both analog and digital), analogue and digital audio, andinformation accessed as WEB pages from Internet-connected servers viasatellite, land, and wireless connections are all well-known in the art,and the general standards by which all of this apparatus works issimilarly well-known. A detailed description of underlying hardware,software, and the like for such systems is not attempted in thisdisclosure, as such information is readily available to both the presentinventor and to any worker with skill.

Although much has been done to bring WEB-based information andtelevision programming together, much innovative work remains to bedone. The inventor takes notice for example, that even with the adventof computerized set top boxes, a user must operate in one realm oranother. For example, the user can switch between TV channels to watchTV, or he/she may operate the set top box as a WEB browser, with thetelevision CRT acting as the display monitor. Alternatively (In somesystems known to the inventor) the user may operate the TV and set topbox as a personal computer, running various computer applications.

Only relatively recently have set top box systems been adapted forreceiving WEB-based information (meaning information stored as web pageson servers interconnected on the Internet) delivered by satellite, butnow this phenomenon is relatively common. Intel™ Corporation hasrecently announced a joint venture with satellite companies to delivermultimedia content by satellite. Still such systems are not trulyintegrated, and a user must switch between one mode of operation andanother.

What is clearly needed is a system for delivery of multimedia contentwherein the boundaries between TV programming and such as WEB browsingare removed, and a user may seamlessly operate in any realm with asingle user interface and interactive tools, perceiving to be only inone virtual realm.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention a set top box isprovided, comprising a broadband receiver for receiving multimediainformation including a data stream constituting a command and adisplayable indicia associated with the command; tuner/demultiplexercircuitry for separating a displayable data stream from the multimediainformation, and for sending the displayable data stream including thedisplayable indicia to a display monitor, forming a display with thedisplayable indicia thereon; and user-operable apparatus adapted forselecting the displayable indicia. In response to the user selecting thedisplayable indicia, the display is altered. In some embodimentsalteration of the display comprises switching the display to a channelassociated with the selected indicia.

In preferred embodiments a portion of the multimedia informationreceived comprises WEB pages in Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML). Alsoin preferred embodiments the broadband receiver comprises a satellitedata link adapted to download a satellite-broadcast data stream, and themultimedia information includes a data stream constituting a command anda displayable indicia associated with the command. A portion of themultimedia information received by satellite data link comprises HyperText Markup Language (HTML).

A first portion of the multimedia information in certain embodiments ofthe invention comprises television programming, and a second portioncomprises program schedule information associated with the televisionprogramming, the program schedule information including the command anddisplayable indicia associated with the command. There is in somepreferred embodiments a cache memory system wherein the program scheduleinformation including the command and displayable indicia associatedwith the command are stored, and a driver adapted to coordinate thecache and the second portion of the multimedia information. There maalso be a land-based modem, and the multimedia information including adata stream constituting a command and a displayable indicia associatedwith the command may be received by either one of the satellite datalink and the land-based modem. The set top box in many embodimentsfurther comprises a user-operable WEB browser for browsing forHTML-based WEB pages.

In another aspect of the invention a WEB server is provided, comprisinga scanner for periodically scanning HTML-based WEB pages stored on theserver; and a satellite uplink system coupled to the scanner. In theseembodiments the scanner is adapted for selecting especially-marked WEBpages, and uploading those pages via the satellite uplink system. TheWEB server may further comprise a land-based Internet connection.

In yet another aspect a system is provided for controlling presentationof multimedia broadcasts, comprising a WEB server upon which programschedule information is stored in one or more especially-marked WEBpages, wherein the content of the WEB pages includes commands anddisplayable indicia associated with the commands; a satellite uplinksystem coupled to the WEB server; a scanner adapted for periodicallyscanning content of the WEB server and uploading the especially-markedpages to the satellite uplink system; and a receiver adapted forreceiving both the mutimedia broadcasts and the especially-marked WEBpages including commands and displayable indicia associated with thecommands, and further adapted for displaying the program scheduleinformation on a display monitor in a manner that the displayableindicia become user-selectable interfaces for initiating the commands atthe receiver.

Methods for practicing the invention are also disclosed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an overview of a Simulcast system according to a preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a system diagram showing detail of elements of a set top boxaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows innovative aspects of software in an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 4 is an example of a novel Tag in a simulcast broadcast, whereinthe tag operates as a hyperlink.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is an overview of a Simulcast system according to a preferredembodiment of the present invention. Database 100 is a database of WEBpages and like information, as is conventionally supported on a Webserver on the well-known World Wide WEB system interconnected on theInternet. Database 100, for example is accessed via link 103 by aconventional Web server 111 coupled by exemplary link 105 to theInternet, represented as an Internet cloud 134.

A public switched telephone network (PSTN) 133 is shown coupled tonetwork cloud 134, as is known in the art, and a telephone line 131leads to a port on a set top box 121 connected by a display data line132 to a television 122. A telephone 123 is shown in the path oftelephone line 131, indicating an alternative use.

The description of the above two paragraphs is a description of existingtechnology wherein WEB browsing may be done via a set top box and aconnected television set, assuming interface controls for a user tointeract with the system to enter Universal Resource Locators (URLs),activate hyperlinks, and the like.

Attention is now directed back to database 100 in FIG. 1. This databasein an embodiment of the present invention stores some WEB pages which,for any reason held by the WEB pager provider, may be restricted tocertain identifiable persons, which will referred to in general hereinas subscribers. This sort of restriction is well-known in the art aswell, such as for membership-only pages, wherein subscribers pay aperiodic fee to be able to access and download programs, videos, images,audio selections, and the like.

In an innovative aspect of the present invention the WEB content ofdatabase 100 is scanned in a repetitive operation indicated by looparrow 101. This scanning operation may in some embodiments becontinuous, or in others be periodic and repetitive, depending onspecific system requirements. The operation of scanning is not describedherein in great detail, because the functionality is known technologysuch as is used in database search functions. It is rather the point andpurpose, and the result of the scanning used in other aspects of theinvention which is inventive. Further, it is to be understood that thescanning operation of the database could be accomplished by anapplication running on a separate server 110, as shown in FIG. 1, or mayalternatively be an application running on virtually any WEB server,server 111 for example, or on another sort of computerized machine.

The point of scanning in this embodiment of the invention is to accessand upload especially marked WEB pages, which may be marked for thepurpose just as other WEB pages are marked for restricted use, or in anymanner that the marking may be identified by a scanning operation asdescribed herein with reference to loop arrow 101. The mark may be partof the page, or part of the database. WEB pages thus acquired areuploaded in a data stream via link 104 and satellite dish 112 to asatellite 113, where the data stream is broadcast by the satellite toreception dishes, represented here by dish 120. The data streamcontaining the especially-marked WEB material acquired by uplink server110 is received by dish 120 connected by link 130 to set top box 121,where the material is used in a manner described in more detail below.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention the especially markedpages are provided in database 100 by various programming serviceproviders, such as the major networks (ABC™, CBS™, NBC™), cable channelproviders, satellite TV services such as Primestar™ and others, andgenerally by any organization having an interest in providing to thepublic advanced notice of program availability and scheduling. It isalso important to emphasize that the especially marked WEB pagesprovided to database 100 by interested service providers are not limitedin access to simulcast scanner represented by server 110 and scanningloop 101. These pages may also be accessed by authorized parties overthe Internet in the normal manner.

In an important aspect of the present invention, expanded upon in moredetail below, the WEB information acquired by scanning database 100 istransmitted via satellite in hypertext markup language (HTML) format,including one or more unique tags that convey commands to the set topbox to accomplish a number of unique functions.

One such command-bearing tag is acted upon by set top box 121 in amanner such that links may be displayed in the acquired pages displayedon TV 121 (or on any other display monitor), and such a link, whenselected, can cause the system to change channels. These links can beany kind of indicia in a display, such as text, one or more icons, ashape, or even a portion of background in the video display. That is, ina specific embodiment, a CPU in the set top box controls a tuner in theset top box to tune to and cause to be displayed a specific channelindicated in the link initiated by the special tag in the HTMLtransmission of the special pages acquired by the Simulcast scanner. Thelink may be displayed in a program schedule matrix by text in a specificcolor, similar to the way hyperlinks are displayed in a WEB pagedisplayed on a display monitor of a PC. A user of such a set top boxwill have an input apparatus, which may be an infra-red remotecontroller, which allows the user to point and select in much the samemanner that a PC user uses a pointer device. When a user selects such alink in a program schedule, however, the action initiates the CPUaddressing the tuner to switch to the channel on which the selectedprogram is broadcast.

Many other such tags can be embedded in the HTML data stream received bysuch a set top box. A similar set of tagged commands may, for example,provide for combined displays such as pix-on-pix, wherein, commanded bya tag in a satellite transmitted WEB page, a running sample of a programto be broadcast may be placed in a small frame (window) in the programmatrix displayed, and selecting the preview frame may command the CPU tocause the tuner to display that program in full screen.

It will be apparent to those with skill in the art that, given thenature of the present teaching, tags may be embedded in such a broadcastdata stream in a manner to command many sorts of actions at a set topbox adapted to operate with such commands, as is taught in more detailbelow.

The value to programming service providers now becomes clear. In atypical situation a programming service provider, for example Home BoxOffice (HBO™), has a vested interest in informing the public aboutupcoming programming. Clearly that interest is the economic interest ofattracting audience which maximizes revenue. Also typically, such aservice provider has a considerable investment in creating copy offuture programming in a number of forms. Copy for print media (TV-Guide,newspapers, magazines, and the like) must be provided. Copy forbroadcast must be provided as well. Other copy is needed for on-lineservices and the like. In an embodiment of this invention, theinformation needs to be prepared in just one format, that being theespecially marked WEB pages, and all interested parties may access theinformation by either standard network access, or alternatively by useof apparatus according to the present invention to view acquired pagestransmitted by satellite in the manner illustrated by FIG. 1 anddescribed herein.

Other advantages for various service providers are now readily apparentas well, provided by the much enhanced functionality of set top boxesaccording to embodiments of the present invention. For examplesubscribers could preview movies from the office by downloading a clipover the Internet, when browsing the program pages, even when in theoffice.

FIG. 2 is a system diagram showing detail of elements of a set top boxaccording to an embodiment of the present invention, along with otherelements already described with reference to FIG. 1. The land connectionto set top box 121, represented in FIG. 1 by link 105, the Internetcloud, PSTN133, and telephone line 131 is now represented by link 140.The land-based link connects to set top box 121 at port 152 coupled tomodem 167. Port 150 is for display link 132 to TV 122 or to a homeentertainment system including a display and audio rendering equipment.Port 151 receives signals from satellite sources via link 130 to dish120 as also shown in FIG. 1. Port 153 is a user interface for such asinfra-red remote control, keyboard, printer, PC and so on. It will beapparent to those with skill in the art that there could be other portsand connections as well.

All elements of set top box 121 are shown in their most generic form,and all special features are implemented in the software andorganization as shown and described below with reference to FIG. 3. Itwill be clear to one with skill in the art that the partitioning betweensoftware and hardware can be done in many different ways, and differentorganization of functionality might be used to achieve the functionsdescribed herein Hence the present description is exemplary of manyembodiments within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

In set top box 121 as shown in FIG. 2, port 151 leads to a tuner 160 anddecoder 161 as known in the art. A sound controller 163 and videocontroller 162 provide output to port 150. User interface circuitry 164couples to port 153 as needed to provide the user interfaces, such asinfra-red remote control as described above. A CPU 165 is provided forlogic and overall control, and a memory 166, which may take one or moreof several known forms is provided for storage of operating code andtemporary storage of data and the like. All of the internal componentsare interconnected on a parallel bus 168 in this embodiment, withsuitable bus controller and so forth as known in the art. Power isprovided to all components by an internal power supply and converter inways well-known in the art, and hence not shown in detail here.

FIG. 3 is an alternative view of the system of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 in apreferred embodiment of the present invention, extracted and simplifiedto describe software organization and dataflow. Database 100 is coupledto server 111, which is in turn coupled to the Internet by link 105.This path handles requests from the Internet for content from database100. Depending on the wishes of the content providers, some of the datais made available only to identifiable customers and so forth as wasdescribed above.

As also described above, access to especially marked programming contentpages, that typically would exhibit program schedules by date and timein perhaps a matrix fashion may also be integrated with streaming video,providing, for example, previews of coming attractions. Also, fancydisplays can be used, such as a virtual 3D “ProgramScape”, that lets youview programming as representations of figurines in a 3D virtualenvironment, showing the principals of those shows and movies as thosefigurines. By clicking on one of those figurines, details about theprogramming may be obtained. Such a space could be extracted as afiltered database, organized by days, shows, interests (user profiles),etc. These features provide an ability, for example, for an authorizedperson to download the programming information via a normal Internetconnection, and in the afternoon to preview from his/her office beforegoing home the evening programming on pay TV, and to plan viewingactivities according to the previews provided.

In FIG. 3 server 110, running a Simulcast application according to anembodiment of the present invention scans database 100 by scanningoperation 101 and uploads especially marked WEB content bearing, in manyinstances, tags constituting commands for controlling functionality of aset top box in data stream 303 to a system modulator 305, where datastream 303 is multiplexed with the general broadcast stream 304.Modulator 305 is typically a transport stream multiplexer (mux) as usedin VSS or BVD satellite standards, but other embodiments are possible.From mux 305 the combined data stream is uplinked to satellite 113, andthen rebroadcast as stream 307 to any adapted systems capable ofreceiving and using the data stream.

Stream 307 is received in dish 120 and is demultiplexed in demultiplexer(demux) 310, which is basically part of the tuner box as seen in FIG. 2(elements 160 and 161). The video stream of the signal to which thecircuitry is tuned is separated out as known in the art and shown asstream 311 going to a display. In the system as shown in FIG. 2 thisdata stream is from decoder 161 to sound and video controllers 162 and163, and on to TV 122, for example, via port 150 and link 132. Demux 310is adapted as well to provide a separate data stream 312 comprising theespecially marked and tagged WEB pages scanned from database 100 bySimulcast scanner server 110. This data stream is delivered via aspecial driver 320 and put into a cache 322, which may be considered apart of memory system 166 in FIG. 2. Not shown here, but in normal useare so-called Controlled Access devices (CA). It is clear that separatelevels can be used for each stage of each data stream, and so it couldbe also applied to stream 312.

The operating code provided to set top box 121 in an embodiment of thepresent invention includes a WEB browser 324. If WEB browser 324 is nowemployed by a user to browse for the programming pages provided by thetagged Web content broadcast as described above, many or all of suchpages may be stored in cache 322. Those pages found in the cache do nothave to be searched from the Internet by modem 167, but can be takendirectly out of the cache. That means that during normal operation,since the cache is being continuously replenished by stream 312, noprogramming would ever require a normal Internet connection.

In an embodiment of the present invention a plug-in 330 in browser 324is provided as the software link to operate with the special tagsembedded in the WEB pages scanned and provided on a continuous or otherrepetitive basis to cache 322. It is plug-in 330 that provides commandsto CPU 165 to change channels and so forth according to thefunctionality of the commands. This is a simplistic showing of theactual process, since in a digital satellite system the tuner is only apart of the channel selection, and there are other functional layerssuch as the transport stream demuliplexer, the encryption controlledaccess, and so on, which all have to work together in order to generatea clear video stream. These elements are not shown here in particular,since they are not relevant to the inventive aspects, and the elementsand their functions are all well-known to those with skill in the art.

Different types of special tags can be used to command special actionswhich are actualized by plug-in 330 or in some cases by specializeddrivers. Set top box 121 of FIG. 2 could be in one embodiment a PCequipped with a satellite tuner card that contains all the requiredtransport demultiplexers, and so forth, as described above, as well asthe controlled access mechanisms required to get the data. The userviews by selecting links initiated by the special tags in the datastream and selection causes the CPU to tune the hardware to selectchannels and do other things, like changing language, etc. This makeslife quite simple for the user, because it completely integrates the PCdomain, the TV domain, and the WEB domain, as described above.

FIG. 4 is an example of a novel tag in a simulcast broadcast accordingto an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the tag operates as ahyperlink. In this simple example the text “HBO” will be displayed as alink, and when selected by a user, the system will tune to Band 3,Channel 7, which is meant to be the band and channel number in thisexample for HBO™. Given this teaching it will be apparent to those withskill in the art that there may be many other tags included in suchbroadcasts which will provide for enhanced functionality in the samemanner as the example shown, in concert with operating code, such asplug-in 330 described above, for receiving and acting on such commands.The tags embedded in HTML in various embodiments can cause to bedisplayed indicia of any desired sort, which will serve asuser-initiated links to predicate specific actions associated with thetags. Tags need not be simple text or icons. Special tags can beprogrammed allowing, for example, three-dimensional dynamic figures tobe displayed as links, allowing, for example, for a program schedule tobe displayed as a programscape including these selectable figures, asdescribed above.

It will be apparent to those with skill in the art that there are manyalterations that may be made in the embodiments of the inventiondescribed above without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention. For example, there are many ways circuits and electronicelements may be combined to perform the functions described herein, andthe differences in connectivity would not be inventive over the teachingherein. There are similarly many ways that independent programmers mightprovide software to provide the functionality associated with thepresent invention as taught herein without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention. Such differences will fall within the scope ofthe invention. The scope of the invention is limited only by the claimswhich follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for controlling a TV broadcast interfacesystem, comprising; a CPU; a broadcast network interface connected tothe CPU; a video controller connected to said CPU; and a viewing screenconnected to receive an image from said video controller; wherein saidviewing screen, induced by command from the CPU, will create an image ofat least one 3D object with a link each, and upon initiation of a userselection of an object, the CPU will initiate specific actionsassociated with the link.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein one of thespecific actions initiated by the CPU directs a tuner to tune to aspecific data stream associated with the link through the broadcastnetwork interface.
 3. The system of claim 1 wherein the 3D object is afigurine graphically representing associated programming represented bythe link.
 4. A method for displaying a program selection guide in a TVbroadcast interface system with a 3D virtual environment, including aCPU for controlling the system and a tuner, comprising steps of; (a)displaying a program selection guide in a 3D virtual environment havinga plurality of program links; (b) representing at least one of theprogram links as a small frame showing a running sample of theassociated program; (c) selecting the small frame program link causesthe CPU to control the tuner to display the associated program in fullscreen.